Mallya upset with his team

Whose mistake is it?

The internal bickering in the Bangalore Royal Challengers team came out in the open on Monday with team owner Vijay Mallya lashing out at captain Rahul Dravid and former CEO Charu Sharma for the side’s poor show in the DLF-Indian Premier League.

“I was very tempted to bid for players whom I wanted, but they held me back,” he said.

He said Sharma backed Dravid to the hilt and even in the second auction, where the captain was not present, the former CEO discouraged Mallya from buying players of his choice.

“When Dravid was not present at the second auction, I wanted to acquire some players, but Charu Sharma was very tentative about them.

“I mean I bought Misbah-ul-Haq because I was determined to do it. There were other players I was discouraged about,” Mallya said.

Sharma, however, said he did not have any role in players’ selection.

“How could you think that I would have a say in the selection of the playing XI when you have great players like Rahul Dravid and Test captain Anil Kumble in the side?” Sharma asked.
He said the team lost a few close matches and Mallya needed to have faith in the team management.

On his sacking, Sharma said, “Well, if I say I’m not feeling hurt, I’d be wrong.”

Mallya said “Charu Sharma was appointed CEO because I thought he understood cricket and he would add value to the team and the entire Royal Challengers initiative.”

Mallya said Patel’s appointment was necessitated because he was tired of complaints that the team did not have good practice facilities in its base in Bangalore.

“When I was questioning the performance of the team, all I was told was that practice facilities are bad, then I was told there was no bonding in the team... so everything was blamed on a particular event or lack of infrastructure”, he said.

“So I said to myself that things can’t continue like this and I brought Brijesh Patel. He is the secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association and who better a person to provide match facilities and whatever else the team needs at its base in Bangalore. He understands cricket as well,” Mallya explained.

He also made it clear that IPL had an unmistakable corporate face, which makes it evidently distinct from other tournaments.

“At the end of the day people need to understand that the IPL has a corporate side to it, and a very definitive corporate side at that. It is not at all cricket in the traditional sense.”

Now that the team’s semifinal hopes have gone up in smoke, Mallya expects Dravid and his teammates to win a few matches to salvage some pride. “I want Rahul Dravid to do the best for the team and to produce some good results for us because I don’t think Rahul Dravid enjoys being at the bottom of the league tables, and certainly I don’t.” Mallya added.